THE PLENTIFULNESS OF NOTHING

A marriage function took me back to my village. Being away from it for long, I was meeting many of my relatives, friends and acquaintances after a long time. I was as happy like them to meet again. And our conversations went back on time, to the extent of three to four decades. Living in a village had its own charms. However, that was not my opinion those days. Then I wanted to get out of it as fast as possible. I considered living in a village as very tough and opportunity less. 

Nothing was big and flashy as in cities; vehicles, fashion, buildings and offices, hustle & bustle etc. I was then very enamored by the city living and wanted to be part of it. Eventually that did happen. Career took me to live in some of cosmopolitan cities and the big metros of the country and the world. After going through the experiences of big metro living, I wanted to move into a city of something of a lesser dimension, and I did so. 

Despite that, one is still undergoing the hustle bustle of the city and there seems no escape. Back in my village, vivid pictures of childhood filled my thoughts. Life was never formal and it had a kind of easiness going with it. Activities and relationships never stressed out one. Life was casual and it did not evince undue expectations. Including mine, many families around us had very frugal living. But we did not feel it as frugal then. Demands were less. No one worried about the food, clothing, shelter. It was simply there, not in its enormity, but in its basic form, of course. The beauty of it was that in spite of the nothingness of the frugality, every one in the village was willing to share whatever they had. In the aspect of giving, there was this feeling of richness and plentiful. We shared as it plenty existed and we had no sense of loss when the resources exhausted. Nobody stored anything for himself before giving. Whatever one had, one shared, that too with complete happiness and surely, without any bitterness. We knew it would come again and in fact, it did. There were no worries on that count. It was good, tension free living, full of sharing and happiness. 

And what do I see in the cities? Here every one behaves as if he is a pauper. This is in spite of the fact that he/she has plenty. People amass wealth and resources in abundance and in extra ordinary proposition. In fact city guys hoard resources, to the extent of inflicting the villagers and the poor. But in the matter of giving, the city guy behaves as if he has nothing. This nothingness of plentiful comes to him by default. He is never happy in sharing or giving. All that a city dweller does is to hoard and amass. For the city guy, who is stressed out, is always anxious and fearful. He fears that his resources would erode fast and he clings on to it. He craves for more and more. Actually, it is the mindset. He is indeed a pauper in the mind. He simply cannot give or share. 

What is the result? He is never happy and contended. Clinging on to his wealth, unhappily, he dies as a have-not. I recollect the writing of the famous poet. Translated to English it goes like this, the city, full of drama and the act, indeed lives in misery and the village is plentiful by its virtues. How true, how true!